


Nanny 911

by Ahmose_Inarus



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 04:04:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4124958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ahmose_Inarus/pseuds/Ahmose_Inarus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hotch watches a nanny show while undercover with Prentiss, and it leaves him doubting his own parental abilities.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nanny 911

Dr. Kim Nguyen was a OB/GYN. And a damn good one. The problem was, no doctor is perfect. And one of her patients died in childbirth, despite her Herculean efforts to save her. And now, her patients were being murdered. The suspect was the husband of the woman who had died in her care. And the team had not had ANY luck finding him. Finally, with the death toll almost reaching double digits, they had decided to do an undercover operation, as they were under the assumption that the murderer was paying one of Dr. Nguyen’s employees to let him know whenever a pale skinned dark eyed brunette came in with a devoted husband.

And that is how it came to be that Aaron Hotchner and Emily Prentiss walked into the office of Dr. Kim Nguyen hand in hand, Hotch wearing his old Wedding Band and Prentiss wearing a couple of rings that could pass as an engagement and wedding ring. They walked over to the desk and checked in as “Nicole Keator and this is my husband, Joseph”.

And they were told to sit down. They did as they were told. Prentiss picked up a People Magazine, and Hotch turned to watch the TV in the corner. It was showing ‘NANNY 911’.

Hotch settled down to watch. 

A couple of minutes later, Emily glanced up at her boss. And she did a double take. His eyebrows were nearly disappearing into his hairline, his eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open. Blinking at the look of shock on the man’s face, she turned and followed his gaze. On the television, a well dressed woman was watching with a similar expression as a small child of six screamed and cursed at his mother, hitting, kicking and biting her. The mother turned and fled the room in tears, and the child grabbed a book from the floor, turned around and clubbed his little brother over the head with it, screaming out words that NO child his age should know.

“… Hotch?” She murmured under her breath as the father entered the picture and jerked his son up by the arm. The child screamed in his face.

Hotch just shook his head.

“This is… atrocious.” He finally said, his eyes nearly popping out as a nine year old girl spit in her mother’s face and called her a stupid bitch. Emily fought back a grin of amusement.

“… How can those parents let their kids get away with that?!” Hotch hissed under his breath.

“Well… they don’t know HOW to be parents. We don’t all have the knack for it like you do.” Emily suggested.

Hotch gaped as he watched one child nearly smother the other with a pillow.

“Wow…” He murmured.

“… What?” Emily asked.

“… I’m really glad that I only have the one…” Hotch mumbled, and she grinned.

A moment later, Dr. Nguyen’s nurse called “Nicole Keator” to the back, and Hotch was left in the waiting room, watching Nanny 911.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

The plane ride home had a very odd feel. The undercover operation had blown apart the killer and his partner in Dr. Nguyen’s office, and they had apprehended them both within hours. But Hotch had been… acting strange ever since. He seemed Shell Shocked.

After a while, Emily got up and walked over to him, leaving Reid kicking ass at poker with Rossi accusing him of cheating.

“Hey… you okay?” She asked, and Hotch blinked out of his trance and looked at her.

“Just… thinking…”

“About what?”

“That show at the doctor’s office…”

“Nanny 911? Hotch… after all of the depraved things we’ve seen, THAT is what gets to you?”

“… I saw UnSubs in the making.” Hotch snorted.

“Oh man…” Emily grinned.

“But… there was this one father.”

“Oh?” She asked.

“… He traveled. Left his wife home with the kids. Was hardly ever there.” Hotch said, and Emily nodded. “When he was home, he was arguing with his wife… and working.”

“… And you saw yourself.” She finished for him. He nodded. “Hotch… When do you work at home?”

“Um… in the afternoon… evening…” Hotch said.

“What do you do before you work in the afternoon?”

“I eat lunch with Jack and put him down for his nap.”

“And in the evening?”

“When Haley is cooking dinner.”

“And what is Jack doing?”

“Watching Sesame Street.”

“And after dinner, what do you do?”

“Well… Haley would be cleaning up after dinner and… I would get Jack washed and in his pajamas and…”

“And you wouldn’t work until after he was in bed.”

“Not all the time. Sometimes, I would work in the middle of the day when I could have been spending time with him.”

“And yet you eat lunch with him, put him down for naps and tuck him in at night whenever you’re home… Hotch… you don’t ignore your son. You’re a good father. You take every opportunity to be a father to him.” 

Hotch just sighed.

“You’re doing a good job raising your son.”

“I… I know…”

“So what’s bothering you?”

“… How could those parents take what they have for granted? How could they neglect their duties to the point that their children got THAT BAD?!”

“Well…” Emily said, thoughtfully. “I don’t think I can answer that. But all that matters is how YOU are with YOUR son.”

Hotch stared off into space, then nodded.

“Right.” He whispered.

And when the plane landed, he silently got off and walked to his car. The team watched him go.

“Where’s he going?” Morgan asked.

“Home to his son.” Emily said with a smile.


End file.
